An Okanagan family is making splashes in the sport of flowboarding and they are racking up the awards along the way.
Jason Moore and his daughter Madi, 16, his other daughter Keaton, 13, and son Jaxson, 13, recently made waves at the U.S. Flowriding Championships, bringing home some hefty hardware.
Jason won gold in the masters division. Madi came in second in the open female division. Keaton swept the youth competition, and Jaxson won the junior and open mens flowboard divisions.
The wins are quite the feat, especially when you realize that flowboarding requires them to board up and down a ramp against a rush of water going at about 25 km/h. Flowboarding involves a wave simulator and combines a variety of sports.
“You almost turn it like a longboard or skateboard,” said Jason. “You lean back like you’re on a snowboard and it’s got this feel of a surfboard.”
Watch a video of the Moores flowboarding here:
The family first got into the sport three years ago when the flowrider first opened at the H2O Centre in Kelowna. At the time, the Kelowna flowrider was the first of its kind in the country.
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While the kids were the first to give it a try, Jason soon joined them and found he was hooked.
“As long as you have good balance and a bit of guts, you’ll be able to do it,” he said.
The family began competing in local competitions and soon found they wanted to go further. They started competing in the U.S. and just this summer, participated in and dominated the U.S. Flowriding Championships. The competition required them to travel to at least six different flowboarding events around the U.S. during the summer and in the end, the Moore family came home carrying armfuls of trophies and medals.
“We trained hard in the winter,” said Jason.
“We went down and we did what we wanted to do and we won,” said Jaxson.
The family takes the sport very seriously, practicing at least two hours every day, and say they never grow bored.
“It’s a different experience every time,” said Madi. The 16-year-old notes it’s important to relax while flowboarding, adding that many people tend to over-think their moves and end up tensing up.
“If you just stay really calm and relaxed then you work with the water,” she said.
“I’m thinking about all the different tricks I’m going to do in my run,” said Keaton, who adds she loves sports that require a board such as longboarding and surfing.
As her family tears up the flowrider for the CHBC News camera, Keaton adds, “I want to do this for a really long time. I want to become the best in the world.”
And with their hard work and dedication, she and the rest of her family could do exactly that: the Moores are heading to the World Flowriding Championships in Utah in October.
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